Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee is coming on HBO May 27th.  Many may know the gist of the story, some have looked at the impact of the book since 1970, but a simple fact is that prior to this book the Lakota were only called the Sioux, the Diné were only called the Navaho, Apache was the only name for five distinct tribes…  That could go on for hours, days.

Don’t get me wrong: I don’t want to engender guilt or make you feel bad.  I’ve a much larger point, and it ain’t the one on my head this time.

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If anyone told me that I would be writing a manual or two for computer users four years ago, I would’ve laughed so hard milk would’ve spontaneously appeared in my hand so I could take a drink and shoot it out my nose.

But that’s what I’ve been doing for the last two weeks, mebbie longer.  I’m not 100% sure, my memory fades out a little regarding any event before lunch yesterday.

And it’s funny.  I used to make fun of manuals because of the poor english, or the lack of usefulness, or the obtuse information contained within.  I stopped reading them because usually they suck.  So when I was asked to put together a manual I really dug into how to make this one not suck.

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To the news companies out there.

Dad decided to get out of our rut tonight, and consciously switched channels to CBS HD.  60 minutes is on.  It may be emotional at times, it may ask very stupid questions, it may go for the *duh* award, but they dig deeper than CNN Headline news, CNN itself, Fox News, Reuters, AP…

They’re better than many, and try to tell the news.

I say, sincerely, I am sorry for lumping all news orgs into that “rag mag” category.  It wasn’t fair.

That being typed, what’s the problem?

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I was watching Bill Maher last night, and in his ending monologue he used the attributed Albert Einstein quote:

If the bee disappeared off the surface of the globe then man would only have four years of life left.

He then stated that bees are disappearing all over the place, mainly because of cell phone signals interfering with a bee’s ability to navigate.

Sounds weird.  Sounds almost fake.

Until I realized I haven’t seen a bee in my yard for at least three years.  When I was seven or eight I saw them all over the place. 

But, then again, I was half as tall as I am now and I would probably have a memory that is a little exaggerated…

Like a good geek, I turned to the Intarweb.

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I used to think of this as a function of stupid people, or at least ignorant/uneducated people.  At the very least, people lacking willpower.

But now, I wonder, ’cause I did it.  Tonight.

What am I typing about?  Over-eating because the food is there, sitting in front of you.

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